Fire-extinguishing system.



I v PATENTED APRHl, 190's. REVANS.

FIRE EXTINGUISHING SYSTEM;

PPLI

No. 786,742 PATENTED APR. 4, 1905.

- P. EVANS.

FIRE EXTINGUISH-ING SYSTEM.

APPLICATION IILEDMAY 27, 1904.

' 2 SHEETSfSHEBl z.

No. 786.742. i

' UNITED STATES Patented April4, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

FIREQ-EXT-INGUISHING SYSTEM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 786,742, dated April 4, 1905.

I Application filed May 27.1904. Serial No. 210,093.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, POWELL Evans, a citizen of the United States, residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Fire-Extinguishing Systems, of-

which the following is a specification.

My invention consists in certain improvements in fire prevention and extinguishing systems, in which the apparatus employed is particularly designed for use in connection with sprinkler systems installed in tunnels or "similar passages or upon structures, such as motor-cars, designed for use in tunnels.

The object of the invention is to provide a fire prevention and extinguishing system which shall include sprinklers distributed at suitable intervals through a tunnel and designed to automatically act whenever thetemperature in their vicinity rises to or above a A predetermined point.

vision of an improved apparatus actuated by the operation of one or more sprinklers for giving an alarm when the circuit-breaker for cutting of? the supply of current to the third ing drawings, in which.

rail or other conductor in the tunnel has been opened or permitted to open.

These objects I attain as hereinafter set forth, reference being had to the accompany- Figure 1 is a sectional plan view of a portion of a tunnel, showing two fire-stations and illustrating diagrammatically the arrangement of sprinklers and other apparatus in the tunnel and in said stations as provided accoroling to my invention.

verse sectional view of a tunnel, showing the preferred arrangement or sprinklers and of Fig. 2 is a trans-- the water-supply pipes therefor. Fig. 3 is a side elevation showing the preferred arrangement of apparatusv in one of the fire-station units as arranged for carrying'out my invention; and Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a car, largely diagrammatic, showing my invention as applied thereto.

\ In theabove drawings I have illustrated a longitudinal section of an underground tunnel J particularly designed for a single-track railway, provided with rails and having at intervals along its length lateral extensions or rooms J, preferably at the regular exit and entrance stations, which with the apparatus hereinafter described I' shall designate as fire-stations. Of the length of tunnel ex tending betwee 1 two successive stations one half is .under the protection of the unit apparatus in one station, while the other half is protected by the unit'apparatus in the second station, so that each station in the particular arrangement illustrated will have to protect two half-sections of tunnel extending respectively-in both directions from it. It iscustomary for tunnels forming portions of electric -'railway systems to have extending through them, either overhead, between, or at one side of the rails, a metallic conductor current and designed to supply electric energy to the motors of a locomotive or to any number of cars for propelling the same through the' tunnel. In the event of fire from any cause it will be understood that it is advisable notonly to extinguish the same by automatic means atthe earliest possible mo-' ment, but also to cut off the current from the electric conductor, both on account of danger to life and also on account of the probability of arcing, with the consequent increased fire danger. I am aware of what iscalled the sectional third-rail system, whereby the third rail is alive or supplied with current only in one section at a time and in the immediate vicinity of a car; but the object of my invention is principally to provide means for automatically cutting off the current-supply on the section and at the time of passageof the car in case of fire, thus making the section A in electrical connection with a source of dead, or free from current, where the car is. Hence the source of firethe current itself- 1s automatically cut off and danger to life on the track is removed.

From Fig. 2 it will be seen that I place the supply-pipes I of the sprinkler system, with their sprinklers 2 and 1:, along the lower portion of the tunnel near its bottom, as well as along the top thereof, the sprinklers themselves being preferably staggered, as shown in Fig. 1, so that in the event of a fire occur-- ring in the lower portion of a car structure there will be sprinklers in its near vicinity to act directly upon it, as well as other sprinklers in position to act upon a fire breaking out in the upper portions of said car. The

third rail itself is divided into a number of sections, each of which extends from a point in a section of the tunnel, preferably midway between two stations, to one of the stations.

Referring to Fig. 3, a part of one section of the third rail or current-conductor is indi cated at A and another section at A, these two being electrically insulated from one another by means of any suitable material interposed as shown at a. The section A is supplied with current from a suitable source thereof through a wire a, in circuit with which is interposed a switch B, having a spring-actuated blade Z). This blade while being acted upon by the spring 7) is normally maintained in a closed position by means of a notched lever 6 pivoted to the switch-base and in engagement with the end of the blade 7). The long arm of this lever normally rests upon the plunger 0 of a pressure-actuated device C in connection with an alarm-valve D placed in the main supply-pipe of the sprinkler system. Said valve may be of the construction shown in the patent granted to me, No. 714,884, dated December 2. 1902, and the pipe 0' connects it and the device 0, so that when one or more sprinklers open water under pressure is immediately admitted to said pipe and to the said device C. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that, if desired, a dry-pipe valve, as indicated in dotted lines at D, may be used in connection with the alarm-valve shown or, if desired, may be used independently thereof, and it is obvious that the device C may be connected to said d ry-pipe valve in such manner that it will be actuated when said valve opens, just as when used with an alarm-valve. nected to a source of water-supply and includes in its length a check-valve and a gatevalve By means of a T c said pipe is connected, through a check-valve a and a gatevalve 0 to the bottom of a tank F, from the top of which extends a filling connection f to the supply-main E, said connection including a Valvef. When the sprinkler system is of the dry type, a motor-driven compressor Gr supplies air for said system as well as for The pipe E is con the tank F, there being a pipe /lmiding from 5 said compressor to said tank and a branch pipe g coni'lected to the main supply-pipe l of the sprinkler system, it being of course understood that suitable controlling- 'alvcs are placed where necessary. A switch ll, connected in circuit with a battery /1 and any form of electric alarm as, for example, in the case shown a bell./1.may be supported adjacent to the lever 7), upon which is carried a piece f, having two electrically-connectcd contacts placed to engage the terminals or clips of the switch l-l.

Under operative conditions the gate-valve e in the pipe E, as well as the valve 1", is closed and the tank F is filled with water under a predetermined air-pressure, the air bcing supplied by the motor-driven compressor. The tank under pressure is preferably used as a water-supply to insure ater going under ample pressure to sprinklers in case of lire, thus insuring the extinction of the fire in a. minimum time. The tank is also used to limit the amount of water discharged, so that the tunnel cannot become drowned or filled with water. Both tank and outside supply may. if desired, be separately connected to the sprinkler system in the usual manner well known in the art. If new there occurs a rise in temperature in the tunnel, such as would be caused by a fire on a car or a short circuit between any of the electrical feeders, the sprinkler or sprinklers adjacent thereto would be immediately set in operation. This would relieve the pressure in the main sprinklerpipe in the well-known manner, which in turn would cause the operation of the dry-pipe or alarm valve to permit flow of water from the tank F through the valves 0, c and 1; to the sprinklers, with the immediate result that the pressure-actuated device 0 would act to cause movement of the plunger 0, so as to elevate the lever-arm Z1 and release the spring-pressed switch-blade 5. As a consequence not only would water pass to the various sprinklers in the tunnel and be automatically delivered, so as to tend to extinguish the lire, but in addition the current supplied to the third rail would by the release and opening of the switchblade 7) be immediately cut oil in the section of the tunnel within whose limits the lire or elevation of temperature occurred. it will also be seen that the raising of the lover I) causes the contacts carried thereby to engage the contacts of the switch H, with the result that the electrical alarm it will be continuously operated as long as lluid under pressure acts upon the device (1. This alarm device,

however, maybe of a pneumatic or hydraulic design or may be replaced by one of the usual independent autonnitic sprinkler type.

As shown in Fig. 1, there is pmfcrably a complete set of the apparatus shown in Fig. 3 for each of the tunnel-sections, there being therefore at each fire-statidn two units of such apparatus, each independent of the other.

In pursuance of the main idea of my invention I may provide fire-extinguishing and other apparatus on the car or cars operating in the tunnel, so that in case of fire not only will sprinklers automatically actto put out the same, but a switch in the main conductor from the trolley to the controller will be opened, so as to cut off the current in the same manner and for thesame reason as indicated above. In Fig. 4 I have shown in diagram my preferred arrangement of this part of the invention, m being a tank connected to the air-brake system or to some other source of supply for air under pressure. This is connected tola second tank m, containing water,

fromwhich a pipe m extends to a series of sprinklers m placed adjacent to the motors m. In this pipe m is placed an alarm or other valve m which, as before, is provided with aconnectionm whereby when the sprinklers are actuated liquid is delivered to a device for opening a switch (indicated at m) in circuit with the main current-supply wire m from the trolley or third-rail shoe.

I claim as my i nvention 1. A system includingatunnel structure, automatic fire-extinguishing apparatus, tracks, and an electrical conductor in 'said structure, a water-supply system for said fire-extinguishing system, an. automatic normally closed switch in circuit with said conductor, including means tending to open said switch, and means operatively connected to the watersupply system for releasing the switch when the fire extinguishing apparatus is operated, substantially as described.

2. A system including a tunnel structure, a series of fire-extinguishing devices therein, tracks extending through the tunnel, an electrical conductor for supplying current to vehicles operating on said tracks, a switch in circuit with said'conductor and adevice whereby it is normally held closed, asupply system for said fire-extinguishing devices and a pressure-actuated device connected to said system and placed to operate upon said device, for maintaining the switch in its closed position, so as to release the switch, substantially as described.

3. A system including a tunnel structure, a series of fire-extinguishing devices therein, an electrical conductor extending through the tunnel for supplying current to vehicles therein, a normally closed switch in circuit with said conductor, a supply system for said fireextinguishing devices including an automatically-operated valve and a pressure-operated device connected to said valve and placed to operate upon the switch to open the same, substantially as described.

45. A system including a tunnel structure, fire-extinguishing devices arranged in a series extending through said structure, an electrical conductor for supplying current to vehicles in the tunnel, a switch in circuit with said conductor, a supply system for the fire-extinslve device operatively connected to the system, said device including mechanism operative upon the switch to permit opening of the same when the fire-extinguishing devices are operated, substantially as described.

5.. A system including a tunnel structure having within it Vehicle-tracks and a fire-extinguishing system for directing water upon a vehicle on said tracks, an electrical system also in said tunnel including a switch, means connected with. the fire-extinguishing system for causing opening of the switch when said latter system is operated, with an alarm placed to'b actuated by operation of the switch, substantially as described.

6. A system including a tunnel structure, tracks extending therethrough, an electrical system in the tunnel for supplying current to vehicles operating on the tracks, said system including a switch, a fire-extinguishing system for operating on vehicles in the tunnel structure, means placed to act on the switch to cause opening of the samewhen the fireextinguishing system is operated, a secondary electric circuit including an alarm and a source of current, and a switch in said circuit placed to be operated by said first switch, substantially as described.

7. A system inclu'ding'a tunnel structure having within it tracks and an electrical conductor, a series of stations placed at intervals along the said structure, means for dividing said conductor into electrically-independent' sections, a switch in circuit with each section, a series of fire-extinguishing devices adjacent to the tracks of each conductor-section, ape paratus at the stations having means for automatically opening the switch and means connected to the fire-extinguishing system for causing operation of the switch-opening apparatus, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. Y

I POWELL EVANS.

Witnesses:

J C. BIGGERSTAFF,

WM. E. VVATEns;

guishing systemincludinga pressure-respon- 

